It shall be this one's duty to offer recipes and menus. These will be easy to follow, and tested to be good enough that a slave would allow his Master to serve it to Master's Guests and reflect only the best of his Master.
For far worse than Master's anger is Master's disappointment.

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Creamy General Patrick Cleburne Chicken

As
part of June Pride month, lets remember some of our LGBT heroes. This
dish is named in honor of a Confederate General Cleburne. Who jumped
to fight for his adopted country. Who urged his countrymen to free
their slaves. A hero who's very identity has been “cleaned-up”
to make it safe for children. Time to reclaim our history. Don't
forget the quick write-up after the recipe.

Baking the pasta and
chicken together in the oven keeps the chicken so extra moist it
squirts! Let a box of generic hamburger dinner do all the work of
gathering and blending the spices and providing a bed of creamy
comfort.

Confederate Major General Patrick Cleburne,
may be the only known gay general of the Civil War. In his book
Conduct Unbecoming: Gays & Lesbians in the U.S. Military, Randy
Shilts wrote of “Cleburne’s intimate relationship” with an
aide, Capt. Irving Ashby Buck. Shilts cited as evidence a Cleburne
biographer’s statements that the two men had a “very strong”
attachment. "Cleburne's relationship with his twenty-two year
old adjutant, Captain Irving Ashby Buck, drew the notice of the
general's colleagues”. Cleburne's biographer John Francis Maguire
wrote that the general's 'attachment' to Buck 'was a very strong
one'' Buck himself wrote that the pair were 'close and confidential.
I habitually messed with him and shared his tent and often his
blankets."

Upon
joining the rebels Cleburne became “very close to” Brigadier
General William J. Hardee who served as his mentor in
Confederate Army. When hearing of Patrick's death he rushed, with
other close friends, to sing this man's praises.

“Among
his attachments was a very strong one for his adjutant-general,
Captain Irving A. Buck, a boy in years, but a man in all soldierly
qualities, who for nearly two years of the war shared Cleburne’s
labors during the day and his blankets at night.”“Cleburne formed an
attachment as earnest and true as his own noble nature. Much
might be said of this episode – of its romantic beginning and its
tragic end; but the story of loved and lost is too sacred to be
unveiled to the public eye.”

On
The Death of Major-General Patrick Cleburne

In
the early afternoon of 30th November 1864 Brigadier-General Daniel C.
Govan stood with his dear friend Patrick Cleburne on Winstead Hill,
Tennessee. Govan remarked: ‘Well General, there will not be many
of us that will get back to Arkansas.’ Cleburne appearing
despondent replied: ‘Well Govan, if we are to die, let us die like
men’. While Govan did survive, by day’s end, in the words of his
beloved Captain Irving A. Buck, ‘the inspiring voice of Cleburne
was already hushed in death’.

Captain
Buck, had been torn away from his general due to wounds received in
the previous month. In another state, with no real news source, he
was frantic to ascertain any details of Cleburne’s death. He
corresponded with members of the Army of Tennessee that were present
and also collected as much published information as he could relating
to Patrick's demise. The results of his research were published as
part of his 1908 book Cleburne
and his Command.

According
to Govan Cleburne’s body was eventually found some twenty yards
from where he had last seen him.

Mr.
John McQuade of Vicksburg stated: ‘I
and two others were the first to discover his dead body at early dawn
the next morning. He
lay flat upon his back as if asleep, his military cap partly over his
eyes. He
was in his sock feet, his boots having been stolen. His watch, sword
belt and other valuables were all gone, his body having been robbed
during the night’.

Major
General Patrick Cleburne was a brilliant military tactician and one
of the Confederacy’s most able combat officers.
His strategic ability gained him the nickname "Stonewall
of the West".
General
Robert E. Lee referred to him as "a meteor shining from a
clouded sky". Quiet and soft spoken but with an undeniable air
of authority and competence, Cleburne was beloved by the men he
commanded. Described as, “. . . full of mischief and fun, somewhat
shy and dreamy with strangers”.

A
general who never owned slaves.
On January 2, 1864, Cleburne gathered the corps and division
commanders in the Army of Tennessee to present a radical idea. The
Confederacy was unable to fill its ranks due to a lack of manpower.
He stated that slavery was their “most vulnerable point, a
continued embarrassment, and in some respects an insidious weakness.”

“Satisfy
the negro that if he faithfully adheres to our standard during the
war he shall receive his freedom and that of his race ... and we
change the race from a dreaded weakness to a position of strength.

“It
is said that slavery is all we are fighting for, and if we give it up
we give up all. Even if this were true, which we deny, slavery is
not all our enemies are fighting for. It is merely the pretense to
establish sectional superiority and a more centralized form of
government, and to deprive us of our rights and liberties.”

The
proposal was not well received at all. In fact,
Jefferson Davis directed
that the proposal be suppressed.

Federal
troops were quoted as dreading to see the blue flag of Cleburne's
Division across the battlefield.

As
we celebrate the Month of June as Pride Month, let us remember this
Civil War General.

A
gay man who served his adopted country well. A Confederate General
who urged his countrymen to release their slaves. A hero who's very
identity as a gay man has been “expunged” for the “good” of
that country.

Several
places are named after Patrick Cleburne, including Cleburne County in
Alabama and Arkansas, and the city of Cleburne, Texas. The Patrick R.
Cleburne Confederate Cemetery is a memorial cemetery in Jonesboro,
Georgia that was named in honor of General Patrick Cleburne. Yet none
of these mention the fact he was a gay man.

“Two continents now claim
his name; eight million of people revere his memory; two great
communities raise monuments to his virtues – and history will take
up his fame and hand it down to time for exampling ” wrote General
Hardee, Selma, Alabama: May
1, 1867.Let us make that example!